Forever and always

Yesterday, Rome began her evolution into becoming a true telepath. Part of this training required her to use Rei as a willing subject for purposes of stimulus and response. Her instructions was for once in their married life, Rei was to be completely selfish and allow Rome to attend to his needs. While it was against his nature to ever be selfish, especially when it came to Rome, Rei was agreeable to participating in the experiment:

     To her credit, despite the distractions, Rome was every bit the scientist, performing tiny experiments and noting the results. She had been inside of Rei’s head so many times, she was already familiar with the terrain. But this was different. Unlike with the bands, she found she could direct Rei’s thoughts with very simple actions. It was fascinating to her to see that things she always thought Rei enjoyed, some of them were very pleasurable and others were not as important. She discovered some things that even Rei did not know he enjoyed. She was able to sense when certain motions strained his back which allowed her to alter her actions instantaneously to reduce the strain.
     Even as she was applying her ministrations, Rome knew this would ultimately be the end of the Vuduri in their current form. The very best of them had tried to eschew the flesh. They tried to deny their animal origins and this was a complete mistake. Humans were human and they had to embrace every part that defined the species. To reject the physical, as most of the Vuduri had done, was to reject their humanity. Rome knew that she had to communicate this to them, to take them back to something less and at the same time, something more. But that would be another day.
     As she tried different lovemaking positions, frequencies and intensities, Rei’s brain gave her animalistic feedback in a way that his voice, his utterances, his touch never could. Rei’s mind blazed with love and affection for his wife, combined with exploding sensations. Rome was so far inside his brain, it was almost as if she was making love to herself.
     After a while, Rome had all the information she needed but she did not stop. Just like with the bands, there came a point where there was no longer a conscious difference between them as their souls intertwined and merged. What could not be possible with any other human being was routine territory to Rome; not that that made it any less remarkable. The man beneath her was her gift from the heavens. What they had was beyond love. They were one. Forever and always.

The last sentence, in bold, was lifted directly from Rome's Revolution. Both Rome and Rei were thinking that the other was a gift from the heavens. The forever and always turns out to literally be true. But you'll have to read The Immortals in The Vuduri Companion to see how that came about.